


Battling Demons

by LaMorelleNoire



Series: Power Armor and Sniper Rifles drabbles [3]
Category: Fallout (Video Games), Fallout 4
Genre: Decapitation, F/M, Mentions Suicide Attempt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-19
Updated: 2018-02-19
Packaged: 2019-03-21 09:36:25
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 730
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13738095
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LaMorelleNoire/pseuds/LaMorelleNoire
Summary: Kestrel is in a "mood", as it's known around the Prydwen. Danse is sent to find her and isn't quite prepared for what he finds.





	Battling Demons

**Author's Note:**

> So this is the beginning of several drabbles that'll mention Kes being fairly suicidal when she was younger. I'll tag it every time but I'm warning you all the same.

"Knight Chenoa?" Elder Maxson calls for the third time over the speakers on the Prydwen, but there's still no answer. He frowns. She should be here.

"Sorry, sir." Paladin Danse comes up from the deck and salutes to the Elder. "Knight Chenoa left a while ago. She was in one of her moods so I let her be." 

Maxson sighs. Of course she would be in a mood when he needs her for a mission. "Alright. Find her with a Vertibird. I have an assignment for her." 

"Yes sir. Ad Victoriam!" Danse salutes before he heads to the docks on the underbelly of the ship for the Vertibirds. He gets in one and commands the Lancer-Knight to scour the nearby area for that flash of turquoise against grey. 

They search the city, then some of the surrounding area. When they find her they hover above to watch the show, Danse not daring use the minigun in fear of hitting Kes. 

She's sneaking up on a Deathclaw, one that's distracted by the Vertibird. She draws a serrated sword and then pounces onto its back, plunging the electrified, serrated, and irradiated blade into a weak spot on its shoulder. It lets out a blood-curdling roar of pain and its claw slash at the pest on its back. She deftly dodges and moves to the other side, slashing again. The Deathclaw blood is foul, but it gives her energy. She leaps off its back, pulling out her hand cannon. As the beast turns she shoots it in the throat once, twice, three times before she dives between its legs and slashes at the back of its calves. As it falls she goes to the head and with a few swings of her sword she decapitates it. 

Danse can hardly move. She just took on a Deathclaw. By herself. And didn't get a scratch. A blush lights his cheeks and he feels himself fall for her a bit right then and there, which only intensified as she grins at him once they land. 

"Didn't know I'd be getting taxi service!" She drops the head onto the floor of the Vertibird and hangs on. "Take us back to Maxson! I want to show him my prize!" 

"Yes ma'am!" The Lancer-Knight takes off again and she brushes some blood from her road leathers, before taking off those shades and cleaning them. When her eyes are uncovered she gives Danse a wink, and he clears his throat and turns away as some impure thoughts cross his mind. 

\----------

"Vertibird incoming! Looks like it Paladin Danse!" The report comes a couple hours after Maxson sent Danse out to find Chenoa. 

"Bring them in." He says, looking out the window at the Commonwealth below them. 

"Of course sir." The Knight is just getting to the door when it bursts open. 

"Afternoon, Arty!" Kestrel says cheerily. Well, at least she's not in a mood anymore. 

"What did I tell you about calling me... what the hell Knight?" He had turned around to address her and saw the Deathclaw head in her hand. "Did you actually take it on by yourself?" 

"Yessir." She drops it at his feet. "Consider it payment for that scar on your cheek." Her tone is more serious. 

Maxson narrows his eyes. Is she really still considering herself indebted to him? Sure, she had been the reason he fought that Deathclaw by himself, earning him that cheek wound. "I've moved past from that." 

"Yeah, well, lets just say if you hadn't swooped in when you did we wouldn't be having this conversation." Kes's voice drops. 

It takes a moment before Maxson picks up on the undertones. "Suicide with style, was it?" 

"Exactly." Kes kicks the head. "So... yeah... maybe today wasn't that different... but I wanted to prove I can take down my demons." She removes her sunglasses, showing her copper eyes. "So thank you, Arthur." 

Maxson is a little stunned by this sincerity. "I'm just glad you made it back." He says, it sounding professional but Kes knows he means back from that brink. 

She gives a gentle smile before her shades return and she picks up the head. "Couldn't have done it without help. Oh, someone will need to clean the floor of that Vertibird. It's a little bloody." She laughs before she heads to her room to wash up, stares following her carrying that head.


End file.
